USA PATRIOT Act
the United States government
Title V: Removing Obstacles to Investigating Terrorism
31456USA PATRIOT Act — Title V: Removing Obstacles to Investigating Terrorismthe United States government

Sec. 501. Attorney General's authority to pay rewards to combat terrorism. edit

(a) Payment of rewards to combat terrorism- Funds available to the Attorney General may be used for the payment of rewards pursuant to public advertisements for assistance to the Department of Justice to combat terrorism and defend the Nation against terrorist acts, in accordance with procedures and regulations established or issued by the Attorney General.
(b) Conditions- In making rewards under this section--
(1) no such reward of $250,000 or more may be made or offered without the personal approval of either the Attorney General or the President;
(2) the Attorney General shall give written notice to the Chairmen and ranking minority members of the Committees on Appropriations and the Judiciary of the Senate and of the House of Representatives not later than 30 days after the approval of a reward under paragraph (1);
(3) any executive agency or military department (as defined, respectively, in sections 105 and 102 of title 5, United States Code) may provide the Attorney General with funds for the payment of rewards;
(4) neither the failure of the Attorney General to authorize a payment nor the amount authorized shall be subject to judicial review; and
(5) no such reward shall be subject to any per- or aggregate reward spending limitation established by law, unless that law expressly refers to this section, and no reward paid pursuant to any such offer shall count toward any such aggregate reward spending limitation.

Sec. 502. Secretary of State's authority to pay rewards. edit

Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (Public Law 84-885, August 1, 1956; 22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)—
(A) in paragraph (4), by striking `or' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and inserting `, including by dismantling an organization in whole or significant part; or'; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
`(6) the identification or location of an individual who holds a key leadership position in a terrorist organization.';
(2) in subsection (d), by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (2); and
(3) in subsection (e)(1), by inserting `, except as personally authorized by the Secretary of State if he determines that offer or payment of an award of a larger amount is necessary to combat terrorism or defend the Nation against terrorist acts.' after `$5,000,000'.

Sec. 503. DNA identification of terrorists and other violent offenders. edit

Section 3(d)(2) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135a(d)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
`(2) In addition to the offenses described in paragraph (1), the following offenses shall be treated for purposes of this section as qualifying Federal offenses, as determined by the Attorney General:
`(A) Any offense listed in section 2332b(g)(5)(B) of title 18, United States Code.
`(B) Any crime of violence (as defined in section 16 of title 18, United States Code).
`(C) Any attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the above offenses.'.

Sec. 504. Coordination with law enforcement. edit

(a) Information acquired from an electronic surveillance- Section 106 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1806), is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(k)(1) Federal officers who conduct electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information under this title may consult with Federal law enforcement officers to coordinate efforts to investigate or protect against—
`(A) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power;
`(B) sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or
`(C) clandestine intelligence activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of a foreign power.
`(2) Coordination authorized under paragraph (1) shall not preclude the certification required by section 104(a)(7)(B) or the entry of an order under section 105.'.
(b) Information acquired from a physical search- Section 305 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1825) is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(k)(1) Federal officers who conduct physical searches to acquire foreign intelligence information under this title may consult with Federal law enforcement officers to coordinate efforts to investigate or protect against—
`(A) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power;
`(B) sabotage or international terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or
`(C) clandestine intelligence activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of a foreign power.
`(2) Coordination authorized under paragraph (1) shall not preclude the certification required by section 303(a)(7) or the entry of an order under section 304.'.

Sec. 505. Miscellaneous national security authorities. edit

(a) Telephone toll and transactional records- Section 2709(b) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting `at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge in a Bureau field office designated by the Director' after `Assistant Director';
(2) in paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking `in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director'; and
(B) by striking `made that' and all that follows and inserting the following: `made that the name, address, length of service, and toll billing records sought are relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely on the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and'; and
(3) in paragraph (2)—
(A) by striking `in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director'; and
(B) by striking `made that' and all that follows and inserting the following: `made that the information sought is relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.'.
(b) Financial records- Section 1114(a)(5)(A) of the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3414(a)(5)(A)) is amended—
(1) by inserting `in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge in a Bureau field office designated by the Director' after `designee'; and
(2) by striking `sought' and all that follows and inserting `sought for foreign counter intelligence purposes to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.'.
(c) Consumer reports- Section 624 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681u) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by inserting `in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge of a Bureau field office designated by the Director' after `designee' the first place it appears; and
(B) by striking `in writing that' and all that follows through the end and inserting the following: `in writing, that such information is sought for the conduct of an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.';
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) by inserting `in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge of a Bureau field office designated by the Director' after `designee' the first place it appears; and
(B) by striking `in writing that' and all that follows through the end and inserting the following: `in writing that such information is sought for the conduct of an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.'; and
(3) in subsection (c)—
(A) by inserting `in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge in a Bureau field office designated by the Director' after `designee of the Director'; and
(B) by striking `in camera that' and all that follows through `States.' and inserting the following: `in camera that the consumer report is sought for the conduct of an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.'.

Sec. 506. Extension of Secret Service jurisdiction. edit

(a) Concurrent Jurisdiction Under 18 U.S.C. 1030- Section 1030(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
`(d)(1) The United States Secret Service shall, in addition to any other agency having such authority, have the authority to investigate offenses under this section.
`(2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall have primary authority to investigate offenses under subsection (a)(1) for any cases involving espionage, foreign counterintelligence, information protected against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national defense or foreign relations, or Restricted Data (as that term is defined in section 11y of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(y)), except for offenses affecting the duties of the United States Secret Service pursuant to section 3056(a) of this title.
`(3) Such authority shall be exercised in accordance with an agreement which shall be entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General.'.
(b) Reauthorization of Jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. 1344- Section 3056(b)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `credit and debit card frauds, and false identification documents or devices' and inserting `access device frauds, false identification documents or devices, and any fraud or other criminal or unlawful activity in or against any federally insured financial institution'.

Sec. 507. Disclosure of educational records. edit

Section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g), is amended by adding after subsection (i) a new subsection (j) to read as follows:
`(j) Investigation and prosecution of terrorism-
`(1) In general- Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (i) or any provision of State law, the Attorney General (or any Federal officer or employee, in a position not lower than an Assistant Attorney General, designated by the Attorney General) may submit a written application to a court of competent jurisdiction for an ex parte order requiring an educational agency or institution to permit the Attorney General (or his designee) to—
`(A) collect education records in the possession of the educational agency or institution that are relevant to an authorized investigation or prosecution of an offense listed in section 2332b(g)(5)(B) of title 18 United States Code, or an act of domestic or international terrorism as defined in section 2331 of that title; and
`(B) for official purposes related to the investigation or prosecution of an offense described in paragraph (1)(A), retain, disseminate, and use (including as evidence at trial or in other administrative or judicial proceedings) such records, consistent with such guidelines as the Attorney General, after consultation with the Secretary, shall issue to protect confidentiality.
`(2) Application and approval-
`(A) In general- An application under paragraph (1) shall certify that there are specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the education records are likely to contain information described in paragraph (1)(A).
`(B) The court shall issue an order described in paragraph (1) if the court finds that the application for the order includes the certification described in subparagraph (A).
`(3) Protection of educational agency or institution- An educational agency or institution that, in good faith, produces education records in accordance with an order issued under this subsection shall not be liable to any person for that production.
`(4) Record-keeping- Subsection (b)(4) does not apply to education records subject to a court order under this subsection.'.

Sec. 508. Disclosure of information from NCES surveys. edit

Section 408 of the National Education Statistics Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 9007), is amended by adding after subsection (b) a new subsection (c) to read as follows:
`(c) Investigation and prosecution of terrorism-
`(1) In general- Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), the Attorney General (or any Federal officer or employee, in a position not lower than an Assistant Attorney General, designated by the Attorney General) may submit a written application to a court of competent jurisdiction for an ex parte order requiring the Secretary to permit the Attorney General (or his designee) to—
`(A) collect reports, records, and information (including individually identifiable information) in the possession of the center that are relevant to an authorized investigation or prosecution of an offense listed in section 2332b(g)(5)(B) of title 18, United States Code, or an act of domestic or international terrorism as defined in section 2331 of that title; and
`(B) for official purposes related to the investigation or prosecution of an offense described in paragraph (1)(A), retain, disseminate, and use (including as evidence at trial or in other administrative or judicial proceedings) such information, consistent with such guidelines as the Attorney General, after consultation with the Secretary, shall issue to protect confidentiality.
`(2) Application and approval-
`(A) In general- An application under paragraph (1) shall certify that there are specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the information sought is described in paragraph (1)(A).
`(B) The court shall issue an order described in paragraph (1) if the court finds that the application for the order includes the certification described in subparagraph (A).
`(3) Protection- An officer or employee of the Department who, in good faith, produces information in accordance with an order issued under this subsection does not violate subsection (b)(2) and shall not be liable to any person for that production.'.